the weekends

Work's really been wearing me down lately. I didn't mind going to work in the winter, since there isn't a lot else to do in the snow, but it's nice and sunny and I'm stuck in a tech room full of dust, being verbally assulted by customers and having to fix other people's screw ups and make up for their laziness. I can't help but think I'm one of the stupid ones though - why get stuff done and do it properly when it would be so much easier to pass it all on to someone else, or just not do it at all, and spend the time sucking up to the boss by coming up with "action plans" that will be given to someone else to implement (or texting of course)? The manager knows who the lazy ones are, and just gives their share of the work to the three people that actually get stuff done.
I was behind this week with work (I'm always behind), so the manager suggested I give some simple tasks (ridiculously simple - repacking new products for sale) to someone. I had to open one of the boxes he's repaccked for some reason, and everything had been thrown in the box without being wiped down or put bacxk in the plastic or anything. No customer would be happy buying a product and it looking like that when they opened the box. I pointed this out to my manager, and she agreed that that couldn't happen, and "suggested" that I should re-pack them all properly. So I repacked them all, because if I didn't, it would be me that would have to deal with the return and get yelled at by an angry customer.
Sorry about the rant - I'll end it there (though there is more).

I went riding yesterday on Mt Tzouhalem. I was out for about 6 hours overall, so was quite short on water. They should have a water tap in the parking lot up there.
I rode up singletrack from the far side of the parking lot, and despite making two right turns and expecting to end up somewhere down by the Providence Farm trail, I came out on the main fire road opposit the bottom of Toxic Tea Cup, so must have ridden Blue Balls backwards. I rode up Tea Cup, then crossed over and came out at the top of School's Out, as I wanted to see if Finality was climbable. That steep down at the end of the trail is definately ridable - I've just got to find the balls (and preferably a bike with a slacker head angle!). As is customary for me on Finality, I took the wrong trail up. Every time I've ridden that I've gone the wrong was at some point, despite there being very few (3?) intersecting trails. The trail I took disappeared into the bottom of a stream bed, so I turned around and found the right trail (with a big sign that read "FINALITY - to Field of Dreams"). Riding up Finality apparently requires more skill and lung capacity than I possess, as it took me quite some time, mostly pushing. From the top of Finality I rode Field of Dreams, Upper Tea, Little Dipper, Y Connector, up the fire road to Showtime, Luc's Skywalker, Fluid, Toxic Tea Cup, Blue Balls, and somehow ended up on De-analyzer, and rode down to Providence Farm.

I really had a great ride today, and want to ride more often and I want to visit the North Shore, and maybe make it to Mt. Washington or even Whistler, which means I'm in the market for a squishy bike. They make some great 6" travel full suspension "all mountain" bikes that can handle stuff like that, but can be pedalled to the top without much trouble, and would be awesome on trails like we've got at the Tzou. I really seem to be pushing my bike at the moment - I guess I should learn to pick smooth lines rather than riding straight through the middle, buut that's always seemed a bit backwards to me. If I'm going to take the smoothest way, I might as well just go for a road ride. I think bigger tires would help. My bike currently has more noises coming from it than it has components, and when I push it in the corners it feels like the front wheel is going to snap in half (or maybe it's the fork, but more likely the wheel).
The Trek Remedy seems like the perfect price, but you'd think big brands would be cheaper, but $4550 for a Remedy 8? I could get an Intense Tracer VP for that!
I'm not sure what to do here though:
1) Buy the dream bike (Intense Tracer) fully built, and live on packet noodles for the following two years
2) Buy a cheap used bike that will last me a year (hopefully)
3) Buy a cheaper new bike
4) Buy a Tracer frame, fork and front wheel, and use parts from my Rockhopper to build it up, and replace as I can afford (or as they wear out)
Number two was the obvious way to go, but looking around, the cheapest bike is probably going to come in at about $2600 for a Pitch Comp, which has an almost identical build kit as my current bike (meaning the same slow-to-enguage rear hub, bendy front wheel, not great shifting, crap brakes, coil fork (though it's a better fork), etc), and it's more "trail oriented", and not so "freeride-ish". I thought "boutique" bikes were expensive, but it seems as Trek, Specialized and big brands keep raising their prices, the small builders have kept prices the same, so there isn't a lot in it really, especially when you look at the well-specced stuff, though big brands obviously have the lead on "entry level".
Comments welcome (as long as they justify 1 or 4).

I'm really fed up with work, and thought that if I want some time off (maybe a week, or even just a four day weekend), that I should do it now, as work will be busy for back to school soon (and will stay busy into autumn). I was told that I don't get paid vacation, since I'm regisered as part time employee! WTF? Part time? I work 40 hours a week, plus 2-8 hours un-paid overtime. I'm angry.
And to top it off, someone pointed out to me at work on Friday that I'm scheduled to work today. I asked a manager, and he said that I'v got to tidy the tech room, as the dust and untidiness is unacceptable. That ticked me off. I can't keep it tidy when everyone else uses it as a dumping ground. And not only do I have to do this on a Sunday when I should be out riding, but he didn't even bother to mention it to me. Oh, and the tidying shift will be followed by a three hour, entirely un-productive computer department "meeting" (read as "lecture").

Total distance: 27 km
Toral time: 4 hrs

New Sticker!

I went mountain biking on Sunday. It was wet and rainy for most of the day, with sixty second patches of sun thrown in here and there. I rode to the top of the mountain up single track and fire roads, and then wound my way back down again.
Just as I rode out the bottom of the trails, Ted and his mum were walking Jasper The Dog back towards their house. Ted and I went for a short ride and did some nice floopy (that's flowy and swoopy) trails. Fluid was a bit slidey in (all) places which slowed us down a bit. It's funny how a trail can seem like a completely different one in different conditions.
Apparently, Ted had won tickets to a mountain biking movie show thingy. He gave me a sticker he'd picked up.I like stickers. I got home and looked at my bike, and wondered where to put it.
While considering the sticker, I grew to really like it. In a previous post I think I wrote about how I sometimes read a sentance that says in a few words what would take me the same number of paragraphs, well this sticker does this. No words, monochrome, two shapes, and it says more than my other stickers, and can also say many different things, depending on how you interpret it.
So it went on the headtube.

(though that could have just been me being lazy - there was the least mud to wipe off there).

I was going to put up a map, but it looks like my GPS turned itself off before I even mafe it to the trailhead. I think it keeps doing that because I shove it i a pocket and if I lean on it or something else squishes against it, it presses on the power button.

(Pics of the stunts for Aaron:)

Let it Snow...

So, as you will know, I've only been able to ride on my days off recently (because it's dark after and before work, and I've got no lights), and my days off have now been changed to weekends, which I hate.
Anyway, I got my new lights (the AyUp kit) so I could ride in the dark again, but it snowed two Sundays ago, and I expected it to last a day or two, then turn to mud, but it's been here since, and we just got a big top up over the weekend.
So no riding for me, not even at weekends. In fact, for the first time in a year I did a load of laundry without a single pair of bike shorts in. I find that depressing. There have even been two days (last Monday and today) when I haven't ridden to work - I've walked. I rode to work for the rest of the week however, and it is quite fun when the snow gets well packed. I've been riding on the sidewalks though, as there's even less room for me on the road. The packed snow on the paths is extremely bumpy and skiddy. The skids can be kept under control by shifting your weight back, and after a while they become fun. Fire Mountain has been handling the snow very well, but I took the HockRopper on a bit of a ride to Walmart and back along Somenos/Sherman as it was snowing quite heavily, and it definitely did better than Fire Mountain, not because of the knobbies or suspension or anything like that, but because of the riding position and it seems more maneuverable (if this were a magazine review, that would be "chuckable"). Fire Mountain does straight lines very well, and is "stable as houses". In fact I once rode 97% of the way to Crofton without hands (cue the Flobots: "I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handle bars"), but it's difficult to move around, which is really noticeable after riding the Hopper. I think it's got a lot to do with the bars. I really like the wide bars.

Diver Lake Cyclocross Race

So... I finally made a blog. I've thought about it a few times, but always decided I don't like blogs. Whatever.

Sometime last fall (before I'd met her), Amy decided that this year she was going to do some cyclocross (apparently "cyclocross" isn't in the dictionary for Blogger's spell checker. Tut tut.) races. She wanted me to come with her. Why not? "It'll be a good laugh!"
Cross on the Rock Race #1 was at Diver Lake, Nanaimo on September 15th, so Amy picked me up at my place at 9:20 on Sunday morning (well, she was early), and we balanced our bikes on the rack, knowing that Brian would sort them out when we got to his place.
Julia had been baking, and sent the three of us off with warm banana muffins. Here's a photo of Amy demonstrating their deliciousness:

Sean wanted to come, but had to work, and was apparently a little bitter :( Next time Sean.
Somewhere around Chemainus we were passed by Derek in his mum's car. This pleased Amy, as she's got a bit of a crush on him (LOL).

After registration Amy started to turn a little white from nervousness (though the blue tongue is from Gatorade).I was worried she was going to either bail out or throw up, but we pinned on each other's numbers and made our way to the start line.
Since it was the first 'cross race of the season, Wendy (Kona-sponsored, pro racer) and a gentleman (whose name I forget - Sean?) did a pre-race beginners' clinic. We rode the course twice, stopping at the tricky bits. Amy and I were picked out as stragglers on the second lap and Wendy rode at the back with us.
There were about 8 men and 6 women in the beginner's class. Only one lady had ridden a cross race before. She was riding a bright green Jake the Snake - Amy's dream bike (because of the colour of course). The women left 30 seconds after the men. Amy and I stayed at the line for a few seconds to let everyone else leave.
The course started in the wood and then wove around on a small grass field, crossed the road, rounded the corner to three hurdles in front of the tennis courts, went up a hill and along a gravel path to a (wide - to Amy's agreement) bridge, then onto a small BMX track. Up an (unridable, for me) hill, down the other side, through some deep gravel by the climbing frame (mandatory dismount!), wove around some shady trees, up another hill, along the side of the lake and back across the road (over some bumpy roots) and onto the field again (not nearly as smooth as it looks!), and back into the trees to the start line again.
I spent most of the first two laps one the wheel of the lady in blue (Kerry? - sorry I forgot names). I was riding faster than her, but she'd clearly been practicing dismounts and remounts - very graceful. And I'm crap at running. Thanks to Ted's coaching I was able to dismount properly (if with considerable loss of momentum!), but apparently on the wrong side of my bike.



Amy going so fast that she's blurry:

Amy feeling a little better now that she's achieved her goal, "One lap and I'll be happy!":
After the hurdles:

I've no idea how many laps we ended up doing, but the bell lap seemed to come a lot earlier than I expected. My bike started clicking just before the last lap, and since the rear hub has been clunking for a week anyway I thought that was the issue, but as I passed the registration tent, Trevor shouted "There's a stick in your deralleur". It wasn't until the last lap that I tried to ride up a couple of the hills, and realised they were easily ridable. It would have saved me a lot of time if I'd realised that earlier. I think I saw everyone dismounting for them hills during the practise and assumed I would need to as well.
Thanks Brian and Julia for taking some photos.

A nice photo of Julia and Mallory:
Brian and Derek rode in the intermediate class.
Derek on his borrowed LeMond Poprad:

Brian taking the hurdles "like a gazelle", and Derek dismounting behind:
The organisers changed the course to include a couple more hills, which Brian was worried about with sub-par brakes, but he looked in control throughout.
A nice "action" shot:

Derek looking relaxed:
An out-of-focus Brian:
Some lady checking out Brian's legs:
Amy wanted me to take a photo of this pink motorbike we saw:
Julia, Mallory and Simone:
The "Master's" class was next up, which Trevor was riding in.

While that race was going on Derek, Amy and I decided to go and find some lunch. We ended up in a "confusing" restaurant in Zellers that had no till and reminded Derek of a hospital. We came back with lunch and a liter of milk each. We'd hoped to get back for the end of the Master's race, but Trevor was already lying on the grass when we got back, and the last few riders were finishing up their bell lap. I think Trevor finished fifth.
Derek and his chicken club:

Amy and a burrito:
Trevor animatedly telling the story of how he tore another jersey: The "Expert" class was last, which was fun to watch. Wendy tripped on a hurdle and landed in a pile on the ground, and rode the rest of the race with a bloody leg.
I tried to get a photo of Simone racing, but as soon as we saw him coming, he was gone and I ended up with a photo of the tree he'd disappeared behind.

We had a great day - it was hot and sunny with a nice breeze, and everyone was smiling and having fun. The race was really well organised and the course was excellent. All the first-time riders we spoke to said they would definitely be riding 'cross again. The next race is in Victoria in three weeks, so Amy and I are practicing "getting on and getting off" in preparation for Cross on the Rock #2.